Bahrain F1 Testing Final Day: It's close! Russell pips Verstappen

Friday, 28 February 2025 at 17:29

George Russell ended the final day of Bahrain Formula 1 preseason testing top of the timesheets, a mere hundredth of a second up on Red Bull's reigning World Champion Max Verstappen, with the top seven separated by less than a second.

Notably in the top seven, apart from the Mercedes and Red Bull, there were also McLaren, Alpine, and Racing Bulls. On Friday, Russell did 91 laps in the afternoon session, ten more than Verstappen. Notably, Max spent the whole day testing the car today, as teammate Liam Lawson did on Thursday.

In contrast, Russell took over the Mercedes W16 from rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli, who did the morning shift for the Silver Arrows. Haas newcomer Esteban Ocon did 103 laps, most of all drivers today.

After Charles Leclerc topped the times after the morning stanza at Sakhir, Lewis Hamilton took over the Ferrar SF25 and ended the day P6 and 47 laps added to his time in a Red car.

As the afternoon session got underway, Haas was quick to send Esteban Ocon out after a disrupted morning where a piece of their engine cover detached. Pierre Gasly initially set the pace before Verstappen, running shorter stints, moved to the top with a 1:29.844s lap.

Aston Martin encountered a setback when Lance Stroll, having missed the morning session due to feeling unwell, attempted to drive in the afternoon but withdrew after 34 laps. Fernando Alonso took over for the final hour under the floodlights.

The lap times started dropping late in the day

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - FEBRUARY 28: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 on track during day three of F1 Testing at Bahrain International Circuit on February 28, 2025 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202502280471 // Usage for editorial use only //

The timesheets continued to change in the final phase, with Albon briefly going fastest during a qualifying simulation on the medium C4 tyres. Verstappen reclaimed the top spot with a 1:29.566s lap on C3 tyres, seemingly securing P1 despite spins from both himself and Ocon triggering yellow flags.

However, in the dying moments, Russell put in a surprise lap of 1m 29.545s, beating Verstappen by just 0.021s. Albon secured third place for Williams.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took fourth ahead of Gasly in fifth, while Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh, ahead of Ocon in eighth, who surpassed 100 laps for Haas.

Leclerc finished ninth ahead of Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Alpine’s Jack Doohan rounding out the top 12. Stroll, with limited running, was classified 13th.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg ended the day in 14th, followed by Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Alonso, while rookies Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber) and Ollie Bearman (Haas) completed the order.

The final afternoon session was briefly interrupted when a shuttle bus drove on the track while it was live. In a bizarre scene, a red flag was waved to halt testing as a white bus drove slowly on a runoff area of the track at Bahrain International Circuit.

With pre-season Bahrain F1 Testing now concluded, attention turns to the 2025 season-opening Australian Grand Prix, set to take place from March 14-16.